Film  

Like I said in the paragraph above, unlike the previous two sequels, this fourth film keeps the serious tone of the original one.  And interestingly enough, Rambo holds the record for the most kills out of the entire franchise with an astonishing 236.  Stallone has gone on record stating that the violence in the film is justified as to draw attention to what’s really happening in Burma.  I cannot disagree.  One viewing of this had me wanting to give up my freedom and take sides with the Karen rebels out there.  The way those innocent people are brutally slaughtered and mutilated is just sick.  It truly is hell on Earth there.  And this is where the movie completely tugged on my emotions and re-opened a lot of deep wounds.  I really wanted to make a difference in the world after watching this one.  And when you are left feeling like this after watching a movie, you know the director perfectly executed his job.  I give much respect and admiration to Sylvester Stallone for bringing about the awareness of this war torn region to moviegoers everywhere.  Now, if we can just all do something about it!  I can hear the film’s moving score in my head right now as I pen this review.  Brilliant!

Anyone already familiar with the 2008 film probably needs no refresher on the plot here.  It is what it is.  That is… Rambo returns to action, with the help of hired militia, to rescue U.S. missionaries who go missing from a village in Burma.  One of the missionaries in particular, Sarah Miller (Julie Benz), previously struck an emotional accord with John Rambo before leaving.  She made Rambo search his heart and he found out that he really does care about people and events going on around despite his previous beliefs and statements made.  John has put his war torn past aside for 20 years now only to find himself come full circle with who he really is… a killer… this time with a humanitarian interest.  Go Rambo!

The realism/believability part of the story comes into play where this time around, it’s not only Rambo making the difference, but it’s a cumulative team effort.  With the help of the hired militia (mercenaries) and Karen rebels, Rambo joins forces to temporarily overthrow the iron-fisted rule of the Tatmadaw led by Burmese military officer Major Pa Tee Tint.  At first I was kind of taken aback by Rambo not going all out on his own, but let’s face it, the dude is in his 60’s and he can use some help… finally!  Anyway, the mercenaries are hilarious and well developed in the screenplay.  They are a much-welcomed addition to the film and in hindsight; I would not want it done any other way.  It’s not like Rambo doesn’t save the day anyway in the end.  Right?

And as far as the action goes, well it doesn’t get any better than this folks.  Thanks to the brilliant score of Brian Taylor, the action is exemplified to the umpteenth degree.  I want to give kudos to Brian and Stallone for ingeniously arranging this.  From the heart pounding escape scene from the claymore to one of the most brutal Act III resolutions in modern film history, Rambo will not disappoint you in the action, brutality, believability and emotional categories.  You can take that to the bank and cash it.  Why did Stallone wait so long in life to develop this script and the Rocky one, I will never know?  But I do know this, both of those films are some of his best work, and despite the final like ending we have here in Rambo, I’m hoping for at least one more adventure.  Please Mr. Stallone.  Feed my hunger!

But I bet the real reason you are all here reading my review is because you want to know what differences you can expect from this 99-minute cut of the film compared to the original 91-minute one.  Right?  Well that’s easy, it’s 8 minutes of difference.  LOL.  No but seriously, I painstakingly put together this bullet point list below of all the MAJOR differences I found between the two.  I purposely left out some of the minor differences that I was just too lazy to write down.  Enjoy!

• The film is titled JOHN RAMBO, but nowhere on the box art or disc is this name associated.  Weird huh?
• There are a few more brutal real images at the beginning newsfeed.
• There’s more snake catching and more playing around with the snakes as Johnny bags them up.
• There’s more of Julie Benz bugging Rambo to take her group on a boat ride into Burma.  In fact, there’s a whole new scene of her begging him.  The law of 3!
• There’s a longer night scene in a village that’s being raided.
• They completely changed the “what is” speech on the boat that takes place in the rain between Julia’s character and Rambo.  John talks about politics and war and admits he wasted his life on war.  That’s a true statement I guess.
• There are longer conversations to be had between the missionaries and Rambo on the boat ride to Burma.
• There’s a slight change to the pirate shootout scene.
• There’s a longer goodbye scene between John and Sarah when drops them off in Burma.
• There are new flashback scenes when Rambo (I keep wanting to call him Rocky) is burning the pirate ship.
• The raid on the village where the missionaries are starts out quicker.  In my opinion, it feels too abrupt.
• There is a new scene where the missionaries are at the prison camp.  They talk about the treatment and torture of the prisoners.
• After the pastor told Rambo about the missing prisoners, the hammer scene is a bit different.  Instead of Rambo’s voiceover where he says, “war is in his blood and all…” you hear a voiceover from the pastor.  It kind of loses meaning now in my opinion.
• There are some slight variances in the rescue of the missionaries.  I did not mind this, as it is the thumping music that really fuels these scenes after all.
• After the rescue, Rambo now notices that Sarah hurt her foot.  He wraps it up for her.  What a nice guy.
• And last but not least, there is a longer goodbye scene between Rambo and Sarah at the conclusion of the brutal warfare resolution of Act III.

So there you have it.  Obviously, as I stated before, I did not list every little change above.  The above bullet points were the most notable changes I saw so I wanted to make sure they were captured on your computer screen for your reading pleasure.  All in all, if I had my way, I would prefer the theatrical presentation of the film any day.  I was excited to hear about this project when Cliff Stephenson announced it at Comic-Con two years ago (here), but ultimately I felt that these new and modified scenes did not lend themselves well to the flow and pacing of the story.  If I had not seen this, I would have lived life being completely satisfied with only my theatrical Blu-ray.  It’s still a must-see and probably a must-purchase for all the fans out there, but casual viewers may want to think twice about spending 99 minutes of their lives watching something they didn’t much care for in the first place.  However, the movie is still one of my favorite films from the new millennium so that’s the reason for the high score despite my sentiments toward the Extended Cut.  It would have been super if Lionsgate would have packaged this with a theatrical Blu-ray disc as well, but no such luck.  If you want to own the Extended Cut, then you are going to have to double dip.  Sadly, there’s no way around that!  But let’s move on and discuss the Blu-ray vitals of this new presentation, shall we?

Video  

The video presentation is where I always had problems with Rambo on Blu-ray.  I know a lot of critics will praise it, but to my eyes, it has always been a bag of mixed goods.  But enough of my jibber, let’s tackle the vitals first. Rambo: The Extended cut is presented in AVC MPEG-4 video with a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio.  And now back to my jibber…LOL.  When the video is looking good it’s razor sharp and pristine, but when it’s looking drab it can be a little blurry and hazy at times.  The jungle truly comes to life in all its breathtaking glory on this disc, but the night scenes are riddled with distracting grain at times.  Thankfully, this is not always the case, but I do have to point out the fact that it’s there.  When the sun shines, so does this Blu-ray.  Every drop of sweat and blood is gorgeously captured on this razor sharp1080p transfer.  The thing that strikes me odd about this disc though is that sometimes the blacks are not deep enough like we have come to expect from recent Blu-ray transfers.  This of course is a very minimal complaint about an otherwise phenomenal film.  I cannot give the video a score of a 5, but I’m oh so close to a 4.5.  Take it for what it’s worth.

Audio  

If this disc has its bright spot, then it’s the bombastic 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio surround track.  It’s absolutely divine, but it’s not perfect.  Yep, you were probably waiting for me to be the narcissist and I didn’t disappoint.  There isn’t much that doesn’t get past me, but rest assured, my complaints here are very few and far between.  Like in the video, the jungle comes to life here.  In fact, I never heard a jungle sound so fantastic, not to mention the rainfall.  I’m general a tropical person by trait, but I hate being trapped inside by the rain.  However, let the rain fall down here!  In fact… all around me!  It is quite blissful hearing that rain pour from every which direction.  This surround track is simply killer.  But wait… it gets better!  There are loud explosions, bombastic bass and bullets zinging from every which direction.  And that score… I could go on forever about it, but I won’t.  It’s simply brilliant.  Dialog, for the most part, is spot on.  However, that is my one complaint.  One fear I have where scenes are added in to make an alternate cut of the film is how good are these extra scenes going to sound and look.  There were a few instances where the dialog level wasn’t up to snuff in the extra scenes.  I had a problem hearing one line of dialog in a particular scene.  Had it not been for this minimal distraction, this one would have easily scored a 5.

Special Features  

Are you ready for this?  There’s trailers and one production diary to be found here.  That’s the special features section ladies and gentleman.  Thanks for stopping by.  No seriously, there’s not even a digital copy included like there was for the former release of the theatrical presentation.  How sad.  Well to make up for the lack of special features to discuss here I figured I would throw in a screenshot of the disc’s menu below and an image of what the Blu-ray disc’s icon looks like when popped into my favorite Blu-ray player… the Playstation 3.  Enjoy!

• “Rambo: To Hell & Back” Director’s Production Diary - This one is 1 hour and 23 minutes long and is definitely worth your time checking out.  It’s kind of a like a day-by-day production diary of the movie shoot.  It’s interesting seeing Stallone behind the camera and scoping things out.  There’s much to be learned here.
• Trailers – The Expendables, Terminator 2: Skynet Edition, and a Lionsgate commercial featuring their catalog Blu-rays that contain peeps from the upcoming Expendables.

Final Thoughts  

This final score would have been a bit higher had it not been for the lack of special features here.  Thanks to the special features department, or lack thereof, I had to round up to a 4.  It’s quite simple folks.  Do I think this is worth double dipping on?  Absolutely… if you are a fan of the franchise.  But if you were just a casual fan, then I would say a rental would be fine for now or wait until Wal-Mart has it in its $5 bin one day.  I’m going to go ahead and recommend this one as a purchase here, but buyer beware… I’m being biased here.  This movie is a favorite of mine, and I will go down swinging in opposition to anyone who bashes this film.  It is motivating, heart wrenching, action packed and completely brutal in its realism as it depicts the longest running civil war in the world and the genocide of innocent people.  And oh yeah… it’s Rambo!  “Let the bodies hit the floor!”

Pre-order  Rambo: Extended Cut on Blu-ray today!

Films 

Kelly’s Heroes and Where Eagles Dare are two very different films covering the second World War. Where Eagles Dare was one of the films that inspired Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Kelly’s Heroes creates the mould for Three Kings to take shape in thirty years later as well as one of the pieces of score “Tiger Tank” was also used in Inglourious Basterds; thus everything comes full circle.

Kelly’s Heroes is a tale of soldiers who overhear that there’s millions in Nazi bouillon ready for the plucking in enemy territories, thus they’re encouraged to ready a ragtag group of soldiers and go looking for the gold. The humorous journey involves crossing dangerous terrain and also trying to outrun their overseeing officers who hear that they’re in enemy territory but think they’re trying to run a covert mission and thus want the credit. The premise is rather amusing and unfortunately the long running time takes away from some of the excitement as the film drags a bit, some air could’ve been let out making the whole experience a bit more entertaining but that didn’t stop the film from making it on Channel 4’s top 100 war films at number 34.

Where Eagles Dare is a more serious take on the second world war film ethos, where we have a group of soldiers of MI:6 soldiers and an American Ranger (good ol’ Clint Eastwood) trying to rescue a captured ally, however as the mission progresses it becomes apparent that all is not what it seems and a traitor may be amidst.

Both films centre around different perspectives on the war, both are very far-fetched, whereas Kelly’s Heroes is a story which shows the army as an almost Laurel & Hardy –esque environment where mischief can go on with so much ease. Where Eagles Dare is a story of how easy it is to penetrate a heavily guarded German facility with ease, as Tarantino said in an interview; that was the last war of white people against white people, so language and accents played such a big role in being a tell as to who may or may not be a spy. So Where Eagles Dare tries to fool us into believe that Clint Eastwood is so great with the eccentricities and the particulars of the German language, pronunciations and inflections that he can simply gain access. Both films are great nonetheless.

Video 

Both of these film’s use the VC-1 1080p codec and are displayed in their original 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Both films’ video quality are indicative of their time; they both contain some grain issues, which is apparent in night time scenes (especially Where Eagles Dare), the colours are almost muted at times due to the limitations of the original film stock and possible due to aging of the original negative.

Kelly’s Heroes has a softness issue and at times the contrast causes some loss of detail as well, however the image is fairly clean. However I think that the lack of grain is due to the softness issue.

The colours like I mentioned before are fairly muted, skin tones come off reddish at times, but the colour palette does lend to a desolate atmosphere that most war flicks tend to prefer, although I believe that this was due to aging rather than a conscious decision.

Where Eagles Dare’s video quality has more grain issues then Kelly’s Heroes due to the aforementioned softness issue of Kelly’s Heroes but on the other hand there is some nice sharpness. The detail and sharpness is most notable during scenes where destroyed cities lay in piles of rubble, you can clearly see the lines of bricks and beams. For both films the video quality is above mediocre but not superior enough over the DVD version to warrant a double dip.

Audio

Both films’ audio comes at us in DTS-HD 5.1 in English, have a mono French track and a stereo Spanish track. Also there are subtitles in all the aforementioned languages. Both films are about equal in terms of audio quality.

There is some flatness to the mix, which is common for films of the era, but at times there were a few dynamic showcases of low end and high end sounds. Being war films, it’s hard not to compare it to some of the recent releases, Saving Private Ryan’s mix comes to mind and unfortunately these classic catalogue releases can’t keep when compared to the fantastic mix of a film like that. The gunshots and explosions have a little power behind them, but I wish a updated mix was considered when releasing two great WWII flicks.

The dialogue comes through nicely and I never had an issue trying to hear anything. Some sound effects definitely have that “canned” sound to them, which makes it easy to spot the stuff added in foley. But overall it’s not a bad sounding set of films.

Special Features 

Considering the age of these films and the fact that they’re being packaged together to help boost sales of one another, I didn’t expect much from the special features. There’s a theatrical trailer for both films and a featurette on the making of Where Eagles Dare. The featurette isn’t very insightful and I found it to be a rather underwhelming watch, I expected a bit more depth, but again a lot times these double features are usually quick cash grabs so they’re slapped together pretty quickly.

Final Thoughts 

Although the films have merit the technical qualities of the films and the lack of special features make this a rental at the most. If you already have the DVD’s of these films then I’d suggest keeping them, there’s nothing new found on the Blu-ray and the quality isn’t as much of an improvement to warrant buying again unless you’d want both films in one package to save space on the shelf. However if you’re interested in the film and are a newcomer then this may be a great rental to catch both flicks.

More importantly, how does this film measure up against the “epics” of today, and how well did this translate to Blu-ray?  Although some films receive a loving restoration (The African Queen), how well would Warner Brothers treat this legendary film?

Film

Based on a novel by Boris Pasternak, Doctor Zhivago follows the life of our eponymous hero as he navigates life in Russia through both World War I and the Russian Revolution. 

Left destitute by the death of his mother, Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif in his best role) is taken in by well-to-do friends of the family (the Gromekos).  Trained to be a doctor, yet popular as a published poet, Yuri’s life is ideal, including a predestined marriage to the Gromeko’s daughter (Tonya, played by the lovely and vulnerable Geraldine Chaplin).  However, this idyllic world is torn apart, firstly through World War I (and Yuri’s conscription), followed by his return home to a radically changed Russia.

Yuri’s life is further complicated by him unexpectedly falling in love with a nurse whom he met while serving in the Army.  Lara (played by a beautiful, vulnerable, yet strong Julie Christie) reciprocates these feelings, but their romance remains unconsummated.  In the words of Lara, “Let us do nothing that you will need to lie to Tonya about”.   

The movie itself operates in three main acts; before War and the Revolution in Moscow, after War and the Revolution in Moscow (including escape), and life in the Urals, away from the Revolution.  And although a devoted family man, and still in love with Tonya, Yuri cannot resist the pull of Lara, especially when his family is hiding safely only miles from the town where she lives. 

In his soul a poet, but by trade a Doctor, Yuri Zhivago is one of a type of movie hero that seems to have disappeared from cinema.  He is not a “doer” or a man of action; like most of us in our lives, the world around him changes, and he must do what he can to adapt and survive.  And although he does not overtly fight back against those who would ruin the life he once enjoyed, when challenged, he shares candidly his true feelings about what has happened to Russia, without fear or remorse.  An incurable romantic, a spiritual fatalist, and a flawed man; this best describes Yuri Zhivago.  Yet in his noble bearing, he communicates a dignity that we would all be hard pressed to equal if placed in similar circumstances.

One of the most endearing traits of the movie is how the main characters’ lives intertwine throughout the movie.  Lara’s finace (Pasha) is in the film early as a Bolshevik idealist, in the middle as a ruthless Red leader Strelnikov (during which he has a powerful conversation with Yuri), and at the end (offscreen) as a main motivation for a number of the characters.

Lara herself first appears to Yuri in Moscow as the daughter of a patient he and his guardian visit.  Later on, she appears to him again as a much-needed nurse during a retreat from the World War I front lines.  And lastly, she reappears, living only miles from the old family house where Yuri hides with his guardian and family.

Yuri also has a half-brother, Yevgraf (played with charm, menace, and sincerity by Sir Alec Guiness) who appears in many places in the film.  When needed, he provides the necessary narration to move the story forward, yet he also appears at pivotal moments in Yuri’s life.  Although a member of the Cheka, Yevgraf hides a true and loving soul for his half-brother under his staid and state-centric persona.

Over top of this all, is our Faustian devil, the lawyer Victor Komarovsky (played incredibly well by Rod Steiger).  Through the movie, Komarovsky is a harbinger of nothing but illness to our protagonists, be it through forcing himself on a young Lara while in Moscow, reputedly driving Yuri’s Father into destitution, or threatening and bullying Lara and Yuri in the film’s closing stages.

Although this movie is set during two very pivotal moments in Russian 20^th Century history, the film does not denigrate into historical documentary territory.  Sir David Lean instead captures the essence of what it is to be human, how the heart can override the mind, and shows the both the best and worst sides of human nature.  And to do so would have been impossible without the flawless performances of Sharif, Christie, Chaplin, Guiness, and Steiger. 

It is also easy to understand why Mr. Pasternak’s writings and this film were banned in Russia for many, many years.  Sir David Lean takes a decidedly Western view of Communism; Yuri leaves a vibrant and beautiful Moscow, and return to a filthy, starved, disease-ridden city, full of the most rapacious and petty-minded Communists imaginable.  Humanity seems to have been sucked out of almost every ardent Bolshevik in the movie, never more elequently illustrated as through the character of Pasha/Strelnikov.   

The quality of the film is beyond reproach.  From the beautiful score by Walter Jarre (you’ll be humming “Lara’s Theme” for days), to the sets, costumes, and cinematography (by the legendary Freddie Young), this is truly what a classic epic film is.

For us in our reasonably comfortable North American world, one cannot help feel but a bit of chill when we see how quickly all of the comfort and luxury taken for granted by these characters is ripped away from them.  To me, this is what makes the film most compelling; how would I survive the same things survived by Yuri, his family, and Lara?  Hours after seeing the film, I am still asking myself the same question.

Video

In the words of Alex from A Clockwork Orange, “gorgeousness and gorgeousity”.

This movie is absolutely magnificent.  Sir David Lean knew how to use a camera, how to frame a shot, and how to get the best out of his actors.  Be it lighting placement, shot staging, or using every natural nuance of his actors to convey an emotion, each frame is shot with an exact preciseness.  Wide shots, tight shots, dark shots, light shots – all are done with love and care.  The film itself is also a throwback to the era of true epic pictures from Hollywood; even the sets are fantastic, and are better than virtually anything from that era.

Most importantly, Warner Brothers did an incredibly respectful job with the restoration of this film.  Grain is there (as it should be in a 45 year old film) but is never distracting.  Low light shots are resolved superbly.  Although some of the blacks can tend towards dark gray, there is never swimming grain, macroblocking, or crush.  The movie itself is somewhat sepia-toned, but color is used appropriately with the color red obviously highlighted.

All in all, this is an incredible presentation for a movie released in 1965.  The care used by Sir David Lean in filming the movie allowed the WB restoration team to produce a movie of pure beauty.  Although not perfect, this disc is now the standard by which I will judge the restoration of all classic movies. 

Audio

As is expected, audio simply cannot be restored the same way video can.  If filmed with a mono track with limited dynamics, there is only so much the engineers can do to spatialize sounds, and add top and bottom end to them.

This being stated, the team that worked on Doctor Zhivago deserve the merit star for a top quality effort.  The DTS-MA 5.1 is absolutely incredible for a movie this age, with decent use of the surround channels, and even some LFE information! 

At times the dialog can drop out, and the score can be a bit jarring through the centre channel, something which did having me adjusting the volume more than I prefer to.  This being said, the sound is superb for a 45-year old movie.  

Special Features

Packaged as a “45^th Anniversary Edition Digibook”, this film has every extra a true movie lover could ask for. 

The handsomely bound book contains forty-four glossy full-color heavyweight pages describing a bit about the movie, making a lovely primer for the neophyte (such as myself).  There are also profiles of a number of the main actors in the film, and some candid “behind the scenes” photos.  A great booklet in the opinion of someone who still loves the printed word.

Also included is an all-too-short CD sampler of the soundtrack, which is a real treat for someone who loves 2-channel classical music.  This alone would have been worth 2.5 discs on its own.

However, in the list of more traditional features, we have some that come on the movie’s Blu-ray, with the balance being contained on an accompanying DVD (all in SD unfortunately).

On the Blu-ray we have a commentary track.  And we are fortunate to still have the genteel Omar Sharif with us, as well as Sir David Lean’s widow, Sandra; he obviously told her many stories in the short time they were married.  Although we no longer have Rod Steiger with us (he passed on in 2002), we are fortunate that he did have some commentary recorded for the film (likely for the 2001 DVD release) – even though he is not a part of the initial conversation, he is seamlessly blended into this track.  Be advised that although this is a better commentary than most, it does still represent listening to other people talk over a movie for over three hours.  And as loyal readers know, I am not a big fan of commentaries, though this one held my attention better than most.

Also on the Blu-ray, we have a two-part documentary (480p – bah!) about Doctor Zhivago, most notably in the words of others in the industry.  A very good piece.

On the accompanying DVD, we have what looks to be a rehash of the special features that accompanied the 2001 “Special Edition” DVD release of the film.  If you do not own the DVD, and love “retro” features, this is your disc.  There are number of vintage featurettes, including interviews, a screen test, and various old “presser” type materials.  Plus, this disc includes the excellent 1995 documentary on Doctor Zhivago, narrated by the ever-eloquent Omar Sharif.

In terms of variety, volume, and quality, this is a wonderfully varied set of special features.  Even the lack of high-def supplements is acceptable considering the age of the film. 

Final Thoughts

Honestly, I did find the thought of reviewing this film a bit daunting.  Not only is it legendary, it comes with a hefty runtime, and a hefty set of extras in its 45^th anniversary edition.  Furthermore, I did find the start of the movie to be a bit slow and confusing, though this all resolved itself once the film progressed. 

However, I cannot remember the last time I was so engrossed in a film, especially developing a heightened empathy for our characters.  This is a tribute to Sir David Lean, who truly captured the emotion of his actors for the screen.  From an excellent story, to an excellent script, to tour-de-force acting performances, this is a top notch film. 

That a 45-year old film looks and sounds as good as this does on Blu-ray is a tribute to Warner Brothers; Doctor Zhivago fully deserves a place of honor in any serious movie collection.

Film 

This film has had some buzz here on Why So Blu, specifically last month.  Those that saw it seemed pretty high on the film so when it came out on Blu-ray January 12^th, I jumped in head first and got the steelbook packaged version on a blind buy.  I’m not entirely sure why I did that.  My track record on blind buys isn’t the best and I was going on other people’s hype.  Heck, I’m the guy who got shoes thrown at me for loving Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (sue me!).  If I’m in that much disagreement with most others on here, what makes me think I’d like this movie?  Good news.  I loved it. 

You want nail-biting tension?  Here’s your title.  The Hurt Locker runs 130 minutes and consistently keeps the story’s fire burning.  We follow three soldiers, team leader Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Spc. Owen Eldgridge (Brian Geraghty).  They comprise the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team that goes out and defuses the roadside bombs and IED’s we hear about so often on the nightly news.  

James enters the fray after the team recently lost their previous leader.  His ‘too cool’ attitude and casualness doesn’t gel well with Sanborn and the allied friction begins.  If you want a front row seat to “What do I cut?  The red wire?  The blue one?” then add The Hurt Locker to your viewing list.  The camera views are simply gripping as the third-person shots leave you wondering if you are just watching from another point of view or if you are witnessing the EOD’s actions through a possible sniper’s eyes.  Combine that with the first-person views of approaching a buried explosive device from inside a bomb-blast suit and you will find out exactly what a rough day at work means.  

Director Kathryn Bigelow struck gold with this production.  The tenacity of the characters and the situations they find themselves in grabs you by the wrist and pulls you in for the experience.  Quite likely, a great deal of this realism is due in part to Screenwriter/Producer Mark Boal spending time in Iraq with a real EOD team.  You want to learn how sharks live?  You jump in the water with them.  You want to know what a day at the office is like for an EOD team?  You ride with one and watch as they disarm and dissect the fireworks of all those wacko extremists.  How do I keep going without giving too much away while still trying to relay my exuberance of this film?  I don’t.  Buy it.  Rent it.  Either way, experience this very under-publicized film on Blu-ray and prepare to have your heart skip a beat.

Video 

The Hurt Locker is viewed in a 1.77:1 aspect ratio with an AVC encode in 1080p.  The clarity only adds to the realism brought to us with convincing brilliance by the actors.  The earth-tone palette is as vibrant as tan and beige can be in the desert environment and if you are a pore whore, you’re in luck here.  I’m not going to say it has the clarity of Crank throughout, but it does look good.  There are  scenes that do have a bit of flickering grain, though it’s not enough to pose a distraction.  There is, however, a short night sequence that is as rough as an old country road.  We’re talking enough grain to feed all the Somali pirates and their bastard kids.  Unfortunately, it was more than enough to draw my attention away from the dialogue for the brief moment that it played.  I guess it’s to be expected in the high def, low light shoot.  Still, this was a big enough to drop the score a bit.  Night shots can be done without the visual noise. 

Audio 

Wow.  If I was given one syllable and three letters to describe the film’s audio, well, there you have it.  There is one scene in particular where a helicopter’s rotor blades kick in and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say I was at that base right under that bird as it was about to take off.  The explosions in the film bring your sub-woofer to life and the raining descent of sand and pebbles is beautifully experienced through the front and rear channels.  Even the hurried scamper of people on the run is captured with audible realism through the back speakers as a shaken Iraqi makes their exit out of the camera’s view.  The only thing that kept this attribute from achieving a perfect score was the fact that some scenes, though just a few, could have benefited more from that same realism.  Basically it was a matter of, “Well if you made sound great from left to right in that scene, why didn’t you do it this one too?”  Yes, I’m digging deep for a flaw on this one. 

Special Features 

As the Guinness guys say, “Brilliant!”  Finally!  Do you realize how long it’s been since watched a film on Blu-ray that had its extras in high def?  Me neither but my point is The Hurt Locker delivers.  There isn’t a huge arsenal of goodies to go around here but I enjoyed what the disc offered and they didn’t flood the extras landscape with weak content.  Good work to the team who put this one together! 

• Audio Commentary
• The Hurt Locker: Behind the Scenes – At just over 7 minutes, you’ll find some brief but interesting discussions with some of the cast, writer/producer Mark Boal, and director Kathryn Bigelow (7:12). 
• Image Gallery – This extra should have an asterisk next to it as it’s actually a double-dip. There are several stills that can be viewed here taken during production.  Some are candid shots of the actors or film crew while others are of the Jordanian locals where the movie was shot.  The feature within the feature is…
• Q & A Session – …the question and answer session with Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art (23:30).   

Final Thoughts 

This film didn’t just live up to the hype it’s been getting, it surpassed it.  This movie should have been off the charts with American moviegoers, not off their radar.  It certainly wasn’t some cheap budget film, and if it were, the production team got a lot of bang for their buck…literally and figuratively.  The cast had chemistry and talent.  The story had substance and that’s actually the understatement of the week.  As I’m watching this movie and thinking about these soldiers’ jobs, I’m wondering, “Who the hell can do this day in and day out???”  My life’s a cakewalk and since I’ve seen what an EOD team goes through, I would kiss the ground they walk on (right after they said it’s clear).  We’ve got a lot of thanking to give to our troops and The Hurt Locker does a phenomenal job of bringing their duties, stress and accomplishments to light. 

Film 

The Green Berets was originally a novel penned by author Robin Moore.  Moore’s literary vision made the transition to film in 1968.  John Wayne starred in and co-directed the Vietnam piece, though he did receive a little help in establishing some of the film’s realism.  As the back of the Blu-ray case points out, Wayne actually wrote President Lyndon B. Johnson at the time for military help.  The vehicles and pyrotechnic tools he received would help him bring success to this dramatic tale.

For the inundated, the Green Berets are a special forces group within the U.S. Army.  Though pretty much every special forces group has taken a backseat in popularity to the Navy SEALs, these guys are not somebody I would mess with and I’m glad to have them on our side.  Wayne and co-director Ray Kellogg teamed up to bring us a story focusing around one specific Green Beret group whose duty, led by Col. Mike Kirby (Wayne), is to maintain the security of a certain firebase and assist the Montagnards while fending off any North Vietnamese Regulars and Viet Cong in the process.  Also along for the ride is newspaper reporter George Beckworth, played by David Janssen.  Beckworth and his employer have serious doubts about the purpose and cause of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, so he eventually gets cleared to tag along with soldiers. 

You will find the film does a great job of establishing a foundation while not taking long to jump in the mix early on.  What you won’t find is an unrealistic propaganda film in The Green Berets.  This was a well-assembled production and quite gripping for its day and still maintains some dramatic effect today.  There weren’t any shot soldiers mumbling, “Oh they got me,” while their comrades in arms unrealistically took out droves of the enemy in retaliation.  You’ll see the Americans and allying South Vietnamese take their licks just the same as the commie bad guys. 

As for the special effects, some are unacceptable by today’s standards, but we can’t go by that.  Some of that stuff was the best they had to work with back in the day.  What I can critique is the blood shown in the movie.  I’ve never seen blood so vibrantly red with paint-like thickness before.  It was distracting the first time I saw the movie in the 80′s and it’s still distracting today.  Blood isn’t new.  Why was it so difficult back then to replicate the color?  I’m not sure, but it is just plain silly looking at times in the film.  Also, don’t focus too much on the extras, particularly those used as VC in their assault on the base.  There are a few Caucasians in there with nothing more than smeared shoe polish on their faces to somewhat disguise their otherwise obvious features.  Oh, let’s not forget the North American foliage and pine trees that dotted the Vietnamese landscape in this movie.  Can anyone say ‘Georgia?’  Because of this, I couldn’t tell if the characters were still on a base in the U.S. or if that scene was supposed to be Southeast Asia. 

Regarding the acting, everyone from George Takei to Aldo Ray does at least a fair enough job in their roles.  Though John Wayne wasn’t the greatest of actors, his performance does enough here in all its sometimes stoic, sometimes grinning delivery.  All in all, The Green Berets is worth a rental if nothing else.  This film is on such a pedestal of its own though that many would have to recommend a buy.

Video 

Although you won’t find a lot of distracting grain dancing about on the screen in this 1.77:1 aspect ratio, there is this somewhat smoothed-over appearance that doesn’t really bring out a lot of the finer details that Blu-ray is capable of revealing.  Unfortunately, The Green Berets only takes partial advantage of the 1080p, VC-1 encode.  I don’t want to send you down the wrong path.  The movie still looks decent.  There’s just room for improvement. 

Audio 

The film’s audio track is presented in a monaural format.  While unfortunate, this is not the fault of something lost in the transfer to Blu-ray, as this was more a case of the track’s original recording.  Still, the end result is uninspiring and feels like a glass of Coke left out over night.  It’s flat as flat can be.  If the sub-woofer got used during the film, I certainly missed it.  The performance there is forgettable and unimpressive.   

Special Features 

Anyone buying this disc for its extras is going to be sorely disappointed.  There are two, yes just two items to view here in standard definition:

• The Moviemakers: The Making of the Green Berets – This featurette gives viewers a brief glimpse behind the scenes of the film being shot on location at Fort Benning, Georgia (7:11).
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts 

Pure and simple, The Green Berets is a darn good movie with a lot of replay value.  If it wasn’t for the scarlet semi-gloss used for blood, I’d pretty much be sold on this film.  Still, after some mental debating and quieting the voices that weren’t talking about this flick, you’ve got to add this John Wayne classic to your high def library. 

Bring home The Green Berets on Blu-ray today!

Film

When I think of the Vietnam war’s depiction in film, I usually go straight for Platoon or Apocalypse Now. Dark… Cold… Rainy… Comedies don’t really come to mind, however when I received a copy of Air America to review, my memory was jolted… How dare I forget a staple in the famous Vietnam War Comedy genre… especially a comedy with Mel Gibson from the nineties (not today’s serious director Mel, the good ol’ Mel).

The film follows a helicopter traffic control pilot (Downey Jr.) who gets fired after pulling a stunt while on the air. He is approached by the CIA to join Air America, a group of civilian pilots who fly supplies throughout Laos.

However, once arriving in Laos, he realizes that the civilian pilots turn out to be shady and over-the-top, one of which is Gene (Gibson), who during official flights takes it upon himself to deal in weapon trading. Throughout the movie you find out that Air America is less and less an innocent civilian run organization, but a CIA drug running syndicate. It’s hard to believe, but there are a few laughs in here… somewhere.

Despite mixed reviews at the time of release and its inevitable box office failure, Air America thought outside of the box. They took an interesting account from the Vietnam War (Robbin’s book), threw in an anti-war stance and portrayed the CIA as drug runners, yet still managed to get a few laughs.

However having Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr. together, might have helped the film a little, unfortunately for them… the movie is dry, especially in comparison to today’s popular comedic styling. I felt my second viewing after all these years was a bit of a sad one, I had romanticized this film since I first watched all those years ago.

Overall it’s nice to have a glimpse back at Mel Gibson’s comedic days as well as a flashback to Robert Downey Jr.’s filmography prior to his arrest and eventual rebirth as Iron Man.

Video

Starting off, I’ve always been weary of older films on Blu-ray. It’s become a bit of a prejudice, I’ve always been worried about film grain simply becoming clearer. However I forgot that even though film quality wasn’t as advanced as it is now, a lot of movies shot decades ago can really be enhanced by the Blu-ray digital transfer treatment. At 1080p and using the AVC MPEG-4 codec with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, I was floored by how good the quality was, it may not be showroom demo quality, but from what I was expecting, it was a treat to see a movie from my early years not only preserved, but rejuvenated.
The colors were a little washed and grain still was apparent in some of the lower lighted shots, but the image was clear and sharp. This wasn’t just a cut and paste cash grab, trying to get people to re-buy titles on blu-ray, and not putting care into it… The job was done well.

Audio

The audio in Air America wasn’t as refreshing as the video quality. The English audio track employed DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Surround Sound however the mix of the tracks seemed a little off, especially in regards to dialogue. There is also a French 2.0 Dolby Digital Audio track and English and Spanish subtitles.

Overall the sound effects, foley and score sounded good, and besides a wonky dialogue track I would say that the audio portion of this disc wasn’t bad, but I expected a lot more for a Blu-ray release.

Special Features

As far special features go, Air America includes, what I refer to as, the basics. This includes at least one audio commentary, a couple behind the scenes featurettes and a theatrical trailer of the film. The featurettes felt a little drab, nowadays special features are a big part of what makes a DVD worthy to own, these featurettes didn’t do much for me. The ‘Return Flight” featurette felt like it was thrown together to bulk up the Blu-ray release, it doesn’t even have an interview with Robert Downey Jr. or Mel Gibson, but rather focuses on B-characters who don’t really have anything interesting to add.

The Audio commentary with John Eskrow isn’t much to talk about, I usually hold high hopes for commentaries. I expect to be entertained as well as learn a few behind the scenes tricks or tips that were used. A few commentaries that come to mind are Evil Dead II that had be laughing harder and louder than when I was watching the movie as well as Kevin Smith’s commentaries which had me in tears… NOTE: When you’re watching a movie and you’re so bored you start thinking about other, more entertaining movies, than something’s wrong. John Eskrow sounded like he hadn’t watched the movie in years and seemed to stumble from tangent to tangent as he ran out the clock… Don’t waste your time.

The features in detail are:

• Audio commentary with Writer/Co-Producer John Eskrow
• Featurette : “Flight Log”
• Featurette: “Pre-Flight: The Storyboards of Air America”
• Featurette: “Return Flight: Revisiting Air America”
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Thoughts

A mediocre movie from 90′s takes a stab at the blu-ray market, with a fairly decent digital transfer it stands a chance at pleasing those who were fans of this movie, however without a mind-blowing audio experience and with pretty plain special features I don’t think it’s worth the time. Air America doesn’t stand well in comparison to other Mel Gibson and RDJ movies from that period in time, thus I say rent it for a few laughs, but don’t expect a hidden gem if you’ve never seen it.

Film 

Our movie starts off with two families, the Franks and the Van Daan’s arriving at a building in Amsterdam owned by a Mr. Kraler.  Kraler, you see, is a compassionate soul and does what he can to hide both families in the shadows, out of sight from the Nazis.  He leads the party of seven upstairs to a moveable bookcase, which conceals the loft behind it.  For the next two years, the two families would live here.  Of them was Hans Van Daan, his wife Patronella, their son Peter, Otto Frank, his wife Edith and their daughters, Margot and Anne.  In time, the small group in very small confines would welcome fellow man of Jewish descent into their attic home, Albert Dussell.

Let’s take a moment and think about our daily lives.  Perhaps we live or have lived with a sibling or roommate that just gets on our nerves after a while.  Nevertheless, you can still walk outside any time you want to escape their comments and habits.  Sure, it may not be the best living situation for you, but it can always be worse.  Case in point is what Anne Frank and her ‘roommates’ went through 65 years ago.  Put yourself in her shoes.  You are living side by side with seven other people and one cat.  You must be as silent as a mouse from 8:30AM to 5:30PM as that’s when the building is frequented by visitors downstairs.  One false move and the creak of a floorboard can give you away to the Nazis.  Even when the Nazis are not within earshot, you cannot leave the building, ever, and all eight people must ration scraps of food and share the same toilet and sink.

As the film progresses, the eight inhabitants almost become one family instead of two and a stranger.  Then there are those times when tempers flare from the ultra-close quarter living.  It is in times such as these when things become a near free for all while Otto Frank tries to maintain both order and sanity above all else.  The film delivers these emotions quite well but brings the suspenseful moments across with even more emphasis.

Actress Millie Perkins (playing Anne Frank) was around 17 years old during her screen test for the film.  Although I found her acting questionable at times, she did well in adding a childlike aura to her 13-year old character, which in turn added an authenticity to the film.  My main complaint of The Diary of Anne Frank was its 3-hour runtime.  I am well aware of how tremendous of a story this is and believe me, I am not trying to cheapen it, but the same emotion could have been delivered by easily shaving at least 30 minutes off the film reel.  It just became too much of the same after a while but I know it pales in comparison to actually living the boredom those folks must have gone through.  Still, one must be cautious in filmmaking as you can easily lose the audience’s attention.

Video 

I’ll be honest.  The video quality is pretty grainy in this 2.35:1 aspect ratio with an AVC encode.  When reverting back to the original source though, you can plainly see that the visual noise was quite prevalent.  The cleanup job done via the film’s restoration cleared a great deal of those dancing specks.  There are scenes you will find here and there throughout the film that looked like they came straight from a VHS tape and offered no visual upgrade whatsoever.  Bear in mind that such scenes are few in number and when they do come around, they are not visible for long.  This movie is in black and white so one cannot comment on flesh tones or color vibrancy.

Audio 

Though you will hear usage of the front and rear channels, it wasn’t an all-encompassing sound experience.  While the rear speakers are utilized, they were done so in a minimalistic fashion and thus lacked emphasis.  There were even a couple of scenes where Allied bombers made their pass over Amsterdam’s airspace, only to be brought down by German anti-aircraft guns.  This would have been the perfect opportunity for the subwoofer to roar to life.  Unfortunately, it did not happen and I was left with a rather anti-climactic scene that did not draw me in as it otherwise should.  Even other scenes where the creaking of wooden planks startled an intruder or a German soldier made his way down brick road, the clack of his boots against the masonry surface would have been another welcomed audio opportunity in this film.

Special Features 

It’s an interesting trend I’ve discovered amongst Blu-ray extras.  Studios seem to pile on the features when it comes to the classics.  For the newer films, and when I say newer I mean anything in the last 30 years or so, the extras can typically be counted on one hand.  Take An American in Paris, Gigi, or the subject of this review, The Diary of Anne Frank. They all share a common attribute in being Thanksgiving Day for special feature fanatics.  Unfortunately, just like its predecessors, The Diary of Anne Frank, while containing mucho extras, delivers them all in standard definition.  I know many of them were not shot in High Definition film, but other items could have easily been shown on the disc in at least 720 resolution if not higher.

• Audio Commentary with George Stevens Jr. and Millie Perkins
• George Stevens in WWII – A look at the director/producer of The Diary of Anne Frank when he shot color footage in WWII as a Lieutenant Corporal in the U.S. Army Signal Corps (7:40).
• The Making of The Diary of Anne Frank: A Son’s Memories - George Stevens Jr., the son of director George Stevens, shares memories and thoughts of his dad and their work together on The Diary of Anne Frank (25:05).
• The Diary of Anne Frank: Memories from Millie Perkins and Diane Baker - Interviews with actresses from the film, Millie Perkins (as Anne Frank) and Diane Baker (as Margot Frank) (25:53).
• Shelley Winters and The Diary of Anne Frank - Footage from a 1983 interview with actress Shelley Winters (as Patronella Van Daan) (7:00).
• The Sound and Music of The Diary of Anne Frank - Behind the scenes discussion regarding the sound effects and composition for the film (7:54).
• The Diary of Anne Frank: Correspondence - Letters from Otto Frank (Anne Frank’s father) pertaining to his discussions with the film’s cast.  Narration and readings by George Stevens Jr. (13:12).
• Fox Movie Channel presents Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman – Discussion from host Tom Rothman on the true story of Anne Frank as well as a look at director/produce George Stevens and his films (14:08).
• The Diary of Anne Frank: Echoes from the Past – Narrated by Burt Reynolds, this featurette covers Anne Frank’s writing and how it came to be published, made it to Broadway and eventually to film (1:30:07).
• Diary of Anne Frank Excerpt from George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey – Reflections on when Otto Frank met with George Stevens (7:54).
• George Stevens Press Conference - From the late 1950′s is a press conference with director/producer George Stevens (5:01).
• Millie Perkins Screen Test - Before she landed the role of Anne Frank, she had to go through a screen test just like everyone else (2:20).
• Fox Movietones - Six Fox Movietones to view with a total runtime of 6:44
  • Millie Perkins, 18, to be Anne Frank in Film of Diary
  • Nobel Peace Prize to Belgian Priest
  • Anne Frank Diary Star Readies for Films’ 1^st Nights
  • Academy Award Highlights
  • Millie PerkinsVisits the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Brilliant Turnout for L.A. Premiere Anne Frank Diary

• Theatrical Trailer – (3:11)
• International Trailer - (4:32)
• Interactive Pressbook Gallery - A series of still images including newspaper and magazine articles as well as movie posters.  The magazine and newspaper pages allow the user to zoom in on the various articles for easier reading.
• Behind the Scenes Gallery - A variety of still photos from the set of The Diary of Anne Frank.

Final Thoughts 

Before I watched this film, there have been some who have seen it that said it was not a very uplifting movie and that it can be depressing.  I disagree, to an extent.  It is not uplifting in that it does not have a happy ending.  However, to see eight people living in seclusion in relative harmony while the world is caving in around them, speaks volumes for what people can achieve and what we are capable of when hope seems absent.

I guess one thing that irks me is the fact that there are still several people out there who say the Holocaust was a myth, a farce.  I really do feel sorry for those people.  They have either lied so much in a mirror that they now believe themselves and/or they are so lost in life from truth that has been kept from them.  How much more evidence does one need to realize this was no case of fiction?  For Anne Frank and the other 11 million Jews that were killed as a result of the Holocaust, I have a great appreciation for this film and those like it that continue to respect the memory of those lost.

]]> http://intotheblu.com/2009/08/the-diary-of-anne-frank/feed/ 0 http://intotheblu.com/2009/06/dr-strangelove/ http://intotheblu.com/2009/06/dr-strangelove/#comments Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:04:25 +0000 Joe Whip http://intotheblu.com/?p=2807 There is no question that Stanley Kubrick was a cinematic genius. He has created many amazing films with incredibly diverse subject matters such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange which have really stood up to the test of time, retaining their relevance decades after their release. For me, the best of Mr. Kubrick’s films remains Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a controversial and thought provoking film both upon its release in 1964 as well as today.

The film is a satirical look at the threat of and folly all out nuclear war and the concept of nuclear deterrence that was the backbone of the the foreign policies of the US and USSR from the 1950′s through the fall of the USSR which formally ended as a country in 1991. The film has undergone a total restoration for its debut on Blu-ray as well as a new 5.1 lossless audio mix. I was quite anxious to revisit the film on Blu-ray as it had been quite awhile since I last had a chance to view the entire film. Was it worth the wait?

Film

As I noted above, Dr. Strangelove is my all time favorite Kubrick film. I am old enough to have lived through the “hottest” period of the Cold War with the USSR during the late 1950′s through the mid 1960′s, resulting from the Communist revolution in Cuba and the resulting Cuban Missile crisis and the building of the Berlin Wall and resulting airlift. I can still recall the periodic drills we had at school to prepare for a Soviet attack, huddling under our desks with our hands over our heads, as if that would have offered us any protection during a nuclear attack. It was against this background that Stanley Kubrick created Dr. Stangelove.

Originally conceived a serious film examining the threat of nuclear war, Stanley Kubrick eventually decided that the best way to present the subject matter was as a dark comedy, using satire, to point out the folly of the entire concept of mutual assured destruction The film stars Peter Sellers who plays three separate roles in the film. British Captain Mandrake Lionel Mandrake, U.S. President Muffley and presidential adviser and former Nazi nuclear physicist Dr. Strangelove.

The film also stars George C. Scott as Joint Chief General Buck Turgidson and Sterling Hayden as General Jack D. Ripper (is that a great name or what?) It is General Ripper, suffering from deep psychosis due to feelings of sexual inadequacy, launches an unauthorized nuclear attack on the USSR. He sends orders to aircraft carrying nuclear weapons to attack the USSR and resets the abort code so that it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to recall the planes.

When his actions come to the attention of the Joint Chiefs, an emergency meeting is held with the President at the Pentagon War Room where the President summons the Soviet Ambassador so that they can call a drunken Soviet Premier to warn him of the impending attack and ask his help in shooting down the planes if they can’t be recalled. It is during this meeting where the Soviets advise the President of their development of a Doomsday weapon which will cover the world with radiation that will wipe out all human and animal life on the planet, in the event of a nuclear attack on Soviet soil.

The Doomsday Weapon is on automatic pilot and will detonate automatically if the attack occurs or if an attempt is even made to deactivate it. The satire and sexual innuendo here is so thick that you can cut it with a knife, from the ramblings of General Hayden and his preoccupation with “bodily fluids” and his ability to deny women his “essence”, President Muffley (get it?) pleading with the drunken Soviet Premiere to deactivate the Doomsday Weapon and that they didn’t mean to attack to General Turgidson (again, isn’t the name obvious?) and his anti Soviet ramblings and his arguments that if we are going to attack, we might as well go all out. and Dr. Strangelove reverting to his Nazi predispositions, calling the President Mein Furhrer and fighting back raising his right arm in salute.

While released in 1964, Dr. Strangelove remains just as relevant today as it did then, given the continued existence of nuclear weapons and the continuing desire of other countries as well as terror groups to obtain them. It is interesting to pick out characteristics in the film’s main characters that continue to be identifiable in more modern day political leaders. Dr. Strangelove is a great film. If you are unfamiliar with the film, check out the 45th Anniversary addition of the film, you will be glad you did. It is a must have for any film collection. Highly recommended.

Video

It is clear from my viewing of the film that the folks at Sony did a fine restoration of the film. I have never seen it look better. Unlike other major restorations which seemed to have employed digital noise reduction to remove film grain and smooth over the image, making it look more digital, I could not detect any use of digital noise reduction on this release. Film grain is evident throughout and fairly heavy at times. Other than occasional scratches and tears in the stock footage used as backdrops for the exterior of the B-52 bomber featured in the film, the restoration is free from any dirt, scratches or defects of any kind. The film is presented in glorious black and white with excellent levels of contrast, detail and shadow detail.

The black and white presentation of the film is flawless and presented with a very nice sense of image depth and three dimensionality. Detail while being very good is not quite up to the level of the best black and white film I have seen on Blu-ray, namely Casablanca, but darn close. While I am sure that there are some of you who will be put off by a black and white film, don’t count me among you. This is an excellent restoration of a classic and important film and is one that should thrill fans of the film and cinema in general.

Audio

The audio on this release is presented in the original mono as well as a new 5.1 lossless mix. I did all of my listening using the 5.1 lossless mix. Considering the age of the film and the original mono mix, the 5.1 track sounds about a good as one could have possibly expected. It is up to the quality of a more modern film? No but is more than satisfactory. What really surprised me the most about the audio mix is the over dynamics which was quite good. Bass response is fairly deep and tight with no bloating at all.

The surround speakers were used very well to create a nice sense of ambiance and immersion in the scenes inside the bomber as well as the War Room, above and beyond what I would have expected for a film of this vintage. Clearly, a lot of thought and care went in creating the new sound mix from the original sound elements. However, I do have some issues with the overall sound of the film. The sound itself is a bit on the thin side, lacking the smoothness and openness of a more modern film. This is especially true of the dialogue track which has a bit of hollowness that you just don’t see in newer films.

The sound also lacks much in the way of transparency and imaging, lacking the front to back and side to side depth of newer films, sounding flat in comparison. However, given the age of the film and the original mono mix, I can’t imaging the film sounding any better than it does on this release.

Special Features

As one would expect for an anniversary edition for such an important film, there are several interesting extras included here. While the release is BD-Live enabled, there is no digital copy included. The extras include The Cold War: Picture-in-Picture and Pop-Up Trivia Track, which explores the military and political world as it existed when the film was made.

Included are interviews with several well known experts including Thomas Schelling who wrote the book “Red Alert” which prompted Kubrick’s interest in making the film, Richard A. Clarke, the counterterrorism expert in the administrations of both President Bush as well as President Clinton, George Ellsberg, a former employee of the think tank RAND Corporation as well as the Department of Defense during the Kennedy Administration, George Quester, a professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and an expert on nuclear proliferation and David Alan Rosenberg, a professor at Temple University and historian on nuclear strategy.

Also included is the featurette No Fighting in the War Room Or: Dr. Strangelove and the Nuclear Threat which feature interviews with Roger Ebert, Bob Woodward, Spike Lee, James Earl Jones and Robert McNamara about the film and the times in which is was made. Also included is the featurette Inside: Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which details the genesis of the film as well as Stanley Kubrick’s career. The featurette Best Sellers Or: Peter Sellers and Dr. Strangelove Remembered features interviews with Michael Palin and Sir David Frost and details Peter Sellers’ career.

We also get a full interview with Former Secretary of defense Robert McNamara during the Kennedy administration as well as side by side interviews with Peter Sellers and George C. Scott on the set of the picture. I was intrigued by the side by side interviews as they were scripted with a black screen on one side of the frame where TV personalities could be added asking the questions which the scripted answers were written for, making it seem that the TV personalities were actually conducting telephone interviews with each. There is a lot to take in here and they are all well worth your time.

In addition to the extras, I would like to also comment on the disc’s packaging. The disc does not come with the typical blue plastic box but comes with packaging more like a hard cover book. It includes 32 pages including an essay, Strangelove’s Durability: In Kubrick’s Words by Richard Tanne as well as biographies of Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Stanley Kubrick as well as an essay by Travis Baker entitled Pie In the Sky Or: How the Lunacy You Saw Wasn’t All the Lunacy There Was. This is some of the best packaging I have even seen with a Blu-ray release and thought is warranted a special mention. Well done Sony!

Final Thoughts

Dr. Strangelove is a classic film that has undergone a first class restoration for its release on Blu-ray. It is must have for the collection of any serious film fan. Highly recommended.

Film

The film begins by summarising the Nazi invasion of Europe and their dominance in the beginning portion of the war. Having taken much of Europe, Northern Africa, and creeping into Russia the Allies are hard for a hero and a turn of events. The film then focuses on the 1942 battle of Stalingrad in Russia with the Nazi forces reducing the town to rubble. Vasily Zaytsev (Jude Law), a conscript in the Red Army is the lone survivor of an attack on his troop, with 5 bullets left in his rifle he kills 5 German soldiers and soon gets launched into fame as a Russian hero and propaganda icon to rejuvenate the Russians fighting spirit. The film deals with a love triangle involving Vasily, a commissar, and a volunteer (Rachel Weisz) and the cat and mouse sniper battles between Vasily and German sniping ace Erwin Konig (Ed Harris).

History has always been an appealing topic for me, ranging from Ancient Egypt to World War 2 and everything in between. The only problem is that whenever a studio decides to take history and put it on film there are many liberties taken in order to appeal to a wider range of audience. That is when things get finicky; whilst an entertaining movie is essential to profit and enjoy ability I hate it when things become completely flipped and askew. Some prime examples would be 300 and Braveheart, the latter of which could easily be called my favourite movie. While they are rather inaccurate besides a few of the main plot details, nonetheless they become quite engaging and manage to tell the story in the end. Then there are films like Enemy at the Gates, which takes a specific war (in this case World War 2) and then fabricates nearly everything within. This wouldn’t be half bad if the liberties taken told a story that reflects said war or event, but instead this film just becomes a story of what ifs and rumours.

If history is your thing and you prefer a more accurate and entertaining view on things World War 2 I would recommend checking out Valkryie or a great German Film, Der Untergang (The Downfall). The list could go on, but the point I’m trying to make is that while I understand most historical films are hardly historical, I found Enemy at the Gates to be rather stale for a movie that wasn’t based on any facts. Considering they could have taken any liberties to make the plot more entertaining, it was rather disappointing that this was the end product.

Without rambling any further, I will run things down for you. Ed Harris and Jude Law both played impressive roles especially considering the material given. Unfortunately the plot itself wasn’t given anything exciting, and the pitiful attempt at a love story turned out to be a further drag on the plot. Tie that together with a predictable ending and slow dialogue, you get a movie that I refuse to recommend to anyone, even fans of war films.

Video

Presented in 1080p 2.35:1 aspect ratio and encoded in MPEG-4 Enemy at the Gates hits Blu-ray with some underwhelming results.  First off I realize this movie is supposed to look dirty and haggard, after all it does take place in war torn Stalingrad, but the desired look does hold back its video transfer.  Exterior shots for the most part look dull and lack detail in wide shots.  Close up shots do show wrinkles and individual hairs although they aren’t clearly visible.  Interior shots fare a bit better as the color looked much more vibrant and detail was more apparent.

Enemy at the Gates is one of those movies where it is very hard to rate its video presentation.  For those of you who have seen the movie on DVD you can expect a noticeable upgrade.  But for those looking for a clean and detailed transfer you may be disappointed.

Audio

Paramount has included an impressive sounding 5.1 TrueHD track, one that definitely does a good job presenting the given material.  Enemy at the Gates is more of a dialogue driven war movie and can come off as a bit front heavy. Presentation of the dialogue however always sounds clear and meshes well with the soundtrack.  The music fits the “cat and mouse” aspect of the movie perfectly and it sounds extremely clear in TrueHD.

When action is presented on screen I found that the gunshots sound weak when compared to DVD versions of Saving Private Ryan or Heat.  Explosions suffer from the same underwhelming bass support but the rear speakers still manage to sound impressive.

Compared to other war titles Enemy of the Gates action sequences left me underwhelmed.  Thankfully the impressive sounding music and dialogue tracks present the material very well.

Special Features

• Through the Crosshairs (SD) – A making of feature that covers the films set creation and acting choices.  Although I was the biggest fan of the movie it was still interesting to hear what cast and crew thought about the characters they played and obstacles they had to overcome to bring them to fruition.

• Inside Enemy at the Gates (SD)- Very similar to the feature above Inside Enemy at the Gates looks at the history of the characters as well at the actors favourite scenes from the movie.

• Deleted Scenes (SD)- The nine deleted scenes dag out an already slow pace movie adding little in the process.

• Trailer (HD)

Final Thoughts

The film itself has a few high points, some rather suspenseful moments and a nicely recreated Stalingrad in ruins. Along with that is a decent cast who portray their roles rather impressively, but in the end the plot of the film just isn’t entertaining enough to warrant a recommendation. If you haven’t seen the film at this point, I wouldn’t bother. If you already know and enjoy Enemy at the Gates I am still skeptical to recommend the purchase of this Blu-ray disc. The audio and video presentations are below par of what we have come to expect of catalog titles, and the special features are even more lackluster. In the end use discretion when purchasing this one as it is for die hard fans only.

Film

Defiance is a really powerful, well written and well acted film that tells the tale of the three Bielski brothers who saved the lives of approximately 1,200 fellow Jews in Belarus during WWII. By pure luck, they were away from their homes when the Germans arrived and slaughtered their families during their invasion of the Soviet Union. The brothers fled to the heavy forest around their village to escape the German soldiers and save their lives.

While hiding out in the forest, they came across fellow Jews who were doing the same thing or who had escaped from a Jewish Ghetto, where they were forced to live as they were either staved to death or taken to the concentration camps. Over a short period of time, their numbers swelled and they would move from place to place, build structures to shelter themselves while they looked for food and military supplies with which to protect themselves. Often, they would have to flee quickly leaving all of their worldly possession but for the clothes on their backs, to escape the German army.

As one can imagine, living out in the forest during the cruel Russian winters, with disease and famine always lurking around the corner, must have been unbearable and unimaginable.

The film stars Daniel Craig as the group’s leader, Tevia Bielski and Liev Schrieber as his brother, Zus, who later leaves the group to join up with a group of Russian Partisans who are involved in fighting the German army. Tevia and Zus are able to turn a varied group of people from all walks of life into a functioning community, capable of building structures, fix military equipment and forage for food as well as turning into a formidable fighting unit in their own right. Defiance is both a compelling story as well as a compelling and moving film and is highly recommended.

Video

Simply put, this is a great looking film with richly saturated colors and a deep blacks. The film’s color palette is a lot like that of Valkyrie in that is is a bit skewed towards to color cyan, which is a light greenish blue. As a result, the picture is a bit on the cool side. I assume that this color palette was chosen to give the film a more period look. While I would prefer a more neutral color palette, the look of this film is quite striking. The deep and rich blacks and excellent levels of detail really give the film a very three dimensional look with excellent depth.

Film grain is well preserved as well. The facial details here are quite striking as are the fine textures in the actors’ clothing, the bark on trees, leaves, moss and dirt. This is one of the better transfers I have seen in awhile. The film lacks that last degree of clarity that is the hallmark of a full 5 stars rating but comes very close to a 5 star rating on that score as well. If you are a fan of the film, I have no doubt that you will love the look of Defiance on Blu-ray as it is another excellent effort from the folks at Paramount. Very well done.

Audio

I was almost as impressed with the sound of this film as I was as with the video. For the most part, the only real issue I had with the film’s sound design was the use or lack of use of the surrounds. Large segments of the film are very front heavy with little use of the surrounds. I feel that a more active and aggressive use of the surrounds and the creation of a sense of immersion would have placed you in the forest with the characters and heighten the sense of tension and suspense. However, when the surrounds do kick in mostly during the battle sequences near the end of the film, they are used very, very effectively, creating an immersive and very compelling sound field, with very real sounding gun shots and tank blasts as well as exploding bombs.

What really impressed me about the sound of the film and why I gave it such a high rating was the overall fidelity of the sound. This is a beautiful sounding film with extremely well recorded and presented dialogue and smooth and open sound with excellent transparency and imaging. The musical score which features violin music sound beautiful with a smooth and rich sound that is very compelling, adding a lot to the mood and angst of the film. While Defiance does not have the type of aggressive and pounding audio track that usually rates high scores on these types of reviews, the technical quality of the sound is so good that I do not hesiate to given it a full 4.5 stars rating. Great stuff.

Special Features

While the extras are not many, they are very compelling and are all presented in HD. The extras include a commentary track with director Edward Zwick. The extras also include the featurette Defiance: Return to the Forest, which takes you behind the camera during filming and features interviews with the director and producer as well as members of the cast, which discusses the real life story of the Bielski Brothers.

The most compelling of the extras for me is the featurette Children of the Otriad, where the sons, daughters and grandchildren of the Bielski’s discuss their parents and grandparents and present pictures and video of them after they immigrated to the US after the war. This is a very moving featurette and is a must see. The extras also include a photo gallery of new photos of some of the last remaining survivors of the Bielski Otriad, taken by the director, Edward Zwick.

Also included and exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the featurette Scoring Defiance, where the composer, James Newton Howard, discusses how he scored the film along with violinist Joshua Bell. The extras also include 2 theatrical trailers. The film does not include a digital copy and is not BD-Live enabled.

Final Thoughts

Defiance is a compelling film that features excellent audio and video and is a film that is well worth a spin. Highly recommended.